The present disclosure relates generally to printing devices. More specifically, the present disclosure pertains to techniques of printing with one or more cartridges containing custom colorant material.
Conventional printing devices, e.g., inkjet and laser printers, photocopiers, facsimile machines, etc., typically implement a best-fit four color printing process in which cyan, magenta, yellow and black colored recording materials, e.g., ink, toner, etc., are combined in an attempt to obtain a desired color. It has been found that the best-fit four color printing process, while suitable for a great number of printing applications, may be unable to produce certain colors with suitable accuracy.
As an example, when an entity, e.g., person, business, corporation, etc., possesses a logo that includes a color that the best-fit color matching process is unable to match in a substantially adequate manner, the only option may be for the entity to rely on an outside printing vendor to print the logo in the desired color.
Reliance upon an outside printing vendor to print the logo on various media, e.g., letterhead, business cards, etc., may result in certain drawbacks and disadvantages. In one respect, the entity may need to order substantially large quantities of the various media to ensure that an adequate supply is readily available. One result of maintaining substantially large quantities of the various media is that large portions of the supply may be discarded, for example, if the letterhead changes, if an employee leaves the company, etc. In addition, the costs involved in purchasing the various media from a printing vendor may be relatively high.
It is generally known to include e-labels on cartridges, e.g., inkjet, toner, etc. E-labels may generally be defined as a memory storage element, e.g., EEPROM, PROM, radio frequency identification tags, etc., and may contain information related to the identity of the ink contained in the cartridge, e.g., ink type, color, date of manufacture, and the like. The information may be retrieved by, for example, a printing device controller.